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Music Singapore Writing

5 reasons to watch Muse live

 

There are certain acts that you have to watch at least once in a lifetime, and Muse is most definitely one of them. They are not one of those typical bands who sound pretty much the same as the CDs, with very little imagination and showmanship. They are also not the band that comes on stage and takes your breath away by just playing. Muse comes on, and puts on a show. And a god damned good one at that. You’re not going to, at any point, be closing your eyes to let the music wash over you. To go to a Muse concert means you are ready to get your groove on and work those calves and vocal cords like you have never worked them before.

5 reasons why Muse performances are awesometastic:

1. Superior technical skills

It is a given that, for all great bands, there is at least one member who is extremely skilled in their instrument. The gem here is that all 3 Muse members are crazily talented in their own area of expertise.

Matthew Bellamy. He is a man entirely in his own world. And I think he enjoys it way too much. Multi-talented with a ridiculous vocal range and crazy guitar skills, the only thing that could go wrong with him would probably be his fashion sense. Or lack of one. Thank heavens that he was only in a simple black shirt and pants, and not one of his crazy get-ups. I didn’t get to hear Supremacy which would have totally made my night, but though you don’t hear every single word, his voice carries the emotion through perfectly.

Bassist Chris Wolstenholme picked up the instrument only in the early 90s to be able to join Muse, and for a guy who used to play drums, he gone on to be voted top bassist of all time in 2011, a mere 14 years since he first started learning. Watching him play, you would have thought he was born with a bass in his tiny baby hands. His ability is sound, and his groove is always spot on. Just listen to Hysteria. I don’t think I need to say any more than that.

And who cares if your drummer cannot carry a tune, if he can control the beats as well as Dom. His drumming is super creative, probably due to the lack of any formal training. No rules for Dom! Even though he was hidden from my view by Chris, you can feel his energy and his passion, holding the band together as one.

 

2. Insanely energetic performance

90 minutes through the roof energy and song after song, non-stop. Not a moment’s break at all for this trio. No chit-chat to catch their breath, no long breaks in between sections, no moving off-stage except once when Matthew went off-stage for the drum & bass interlude. I honestly have no idea where these guys get their energy from, the adrenalin must be coursing through them by the end of the night.

When you look at the set list, you have pretty much rocked through Psycho, Dead Inside, Hysteria, Citizen Erased, Supermassive Black Hole, Uprising. And ended the night with Knights of Cydonia.

How can you beat that?

 

3. Solid rock out audience

When the show starts with the MV opening for Psycho and fans start screaming, you instantly know that you are in for an incredible show. There simply cannot be a better way to open a show than 9,000 fans screaming ‘A Fucking Psycho’. And guess what? It didn’t stop at just one song. Fans knew the right lines to sing (or scream) for almost every song! Being part of the moshpit meant that I was at the core of the action, but a look around the stadium, there wasn’t a soul not head banging and rocking out to their songs.

One last thing, UPRISING SINGAPORE!!!!!!

 

4. They don’t kiss ass

Great bands don’t need to talk too much. Just deliver the goods, over and over again. Never once during the whole session did they introduce themselves, I mean, all of us were there for them, why should they bother to do self introductions? Not a word of how they love Singapore, or how they miss playing here and all that ass kissing shit. Just straight up rocking out all night. The entire duration, I suspect they uttered about 10 words in totality. Maybe even less.

The changeover from their supporting band took almost 45 mins, and they didn’t care that we were waiting. Nothing to apologise for! Some performers love to wait a lifetime before coming back for the encore, but Muse was just gone for less than 5 mins, not even enough time for a smoke. After the final song, it was a quick bow and then off they go, techs come up and stadium lights come on.

 

5. Balloons

Every. Single. Show. It’s as if they are in love with those damned balloons. Though I have to say, it injects an insane amount of joy and entertainment during the last song. Queuing up for 7 hours, and making it to first row in the standing pen was absolutely worth it. I’d do it again in a heart beat.

To the next Muse concert!!!

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Music Review 中文

2012.10.19 蘇打綠 當我們一起走過

很久沒有寫感想文了,反正就是一整個懶。有段時間沒在新加坡看他們的個唱了。首先還是要謝謝小威和青峰的票,讓我媽和我四姨都有機會來看他們生平第一場蘇打綠。

演唱會一開始,當Believe In Music 的音樂一下,熟悉的音樂真的讓我覺得能在自己國家看演唱會真的很幸福(被保安請求坐下有種莫名的歸屬感)。不知道是不是因為自己生病精神比較不好間接反射到表演者身上,但是總覺得前1/3場青峰的狀態並沒有到100%。忘詞、音不準都不是他常會發生的狀況。我在觀眾席還和小秋說青峰都不走過來我們這,我們沒辦法把僅有的能量傳到舞台上。抑或我們看習慣完美的演出,對一點點偏差就太過於敏感?

總覺得前半段一直high不起來,或許是歌單+video+talking的編排,讓整個氛圍忽上忽下,沒辦法持續。開場帶動氣氛的歌曲剛帶到一個high點,觀眾席的燈竟然打開,接著30秒的talking又接上中板的頻率和一段影像。或許因為這是濃縮版,有很多影像是必須播出的(很多點都是利用影像帶入下一段)所以變成曲目得減少(不可能像高雄一樣從6.30唱到半夜);但是這樣子的結果讓我覺得整場演出斷點過多,讓場子的氣氛還沒到一個可以抵得過一連串慢歌的high點,就被打斷了。有點遺憾。

我深深感謝阿福掉mic的糗事,因為我覺得那件事情發生之後,青峰笑過之後狀態竟然好轉,接下來的也都是近乎perfect的表演。(鼓掌)我舅舅過世也有2個月了,心情平復點之後,聽到 小時候 就沒有再像高雄那場哭的稀里嘩啦無法停止。但是還是會思念過世的親人,希望他們現在無論在哪裡都過得很好。

當然,最後我還是有點到 白日出沒的月球啦!可是這已經是第三次點這首歌(’08 植物園,’12高雄,’12新加坡)卻還是沒聽到前面那段。結果還是沒有3rd time lucky~

有一點,就是某段talking的時候我聽到整個捏把冷汗。在說任何關於之前辦過的演唱會還是慎重點吧~畢竟當時滾石大老闆正在台下呢~飲水總要思源啊,2-3年前的打綠並沒有現在的知名度啊~演唱會不是第一場就很多人來看的,即使五月天在新加坡也都是辦了機場票房沒有怎麼樣,送很多票的場子才成為這樣子的。當時帶打綠來的才是真正的冒險呢,如果說有虧錢我也不會覺得意外。可是在演唱會中說之前的都賣不好怎樣的,真的很傷人啊~

我其實很愛看小威打鼓,就如同我也很愛看YO大打鼓一樣,純粹因為樂手玩得起勁我也會因為這樣情緒也被帶動起來。不用刻意耍帥,也不用去care是否有人在注意,只要be in the moment,這就是完美。就如彩虹樂團主唱hyde曾經在15週年演唱會說過,演唱會就好像一場orgy,而觀眾都是偷窺者。雖有點低俗(A,是hyde的本性),但仔細想想又何嘗不是?表演者在台上享受著表演的快感,而我們在觀眾席的就是在外圍往內看他們在enjoy。表演者越來越起勁,我們這些在看的,也越發興奮。當然,打綠和彩虹不一樣的是,他們是那種會break the 4th wall和觀眾互動的樂團。

雖然有些美中不足,但是總的來說這場還是蘇打綠在新加坡無論曲目或構想最完整的一次表演。我其實很慶幸,因為這代表他們不斷地在進步,越來越有想法。雖然心中有小小的願望,就是能看到他們在小小的live house空間表演,而不是每次都是看大型的演唱會。無論如何,謝謝打綠讓我暫時忘卻生病的疲憊,好好享受了一場音樂之旅。

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Music Review Videos

Maywa Denki

I watched the best show I’ve ever watched in my entire life. When I walked out of Concert Hall at Esplanade, I felt as if I could be knocked down by a car right that very moment and I’d be satisfied. I’d die without regrets, even if I had not achieved anything in my entire life.. I’d go without a second thought.

Maywa Denki. According to the website:

“Maywa Denki is an art unit produced by Nobumichi Tosa. It is named after the company his father used to run in bygone days. The costume is designed as a typical working uniform of Japanese electric stores, symbolising small/medium-sized enterprises that had once supported Japanese economy during its high-growth period. It’s unique style is indicated by a term he uses, for example, each piece of Maywa Denki’s work is called “a product” and a live performance or exhibition is held as “a product demonstration”. The products produced so far include “NAKI series”, fish motif nonsense machines, “TSUKUBA series”, original musical instruments, and “ARCLASSY series”, proposal of a lifestyle with Maywa Denki. Although Maywa Denki is known and appreciated as an artist, its promotion strategies are full of variety: exhibitions, live stages, performances, producting music, videos, writing, merchandising toys, stationery, and electric devices.”

The performance tonight was so full of fun, laughter, energy and absolute quirkiness that 1.5 hours just flew by as if only 5 mins had passed. It was that enjoyable.  Ours was the “TSUKABA series” so we saw a whole lot of DIY music equipment.. There were “Automatic Tap Dancing Shoes”, “Maywa Denki Dancers” from Taiwan who can only do the punching dance, “Singing Robot”, “Automatic Guitar” etc etc. There was a bass, an acoustic guitar, drums, electric guitar, saxophone/trumpet combination.. And everything is DIY. It’s all made up of parts here and there from all sorts of places. And the sound that these machines make, sound just like the real thing!!!!!

I was so impressed with the whole performance, with the commitment and the effort put into every single one of their machines. And that amidst that Tosa can still inject lots of humor into the entire performance to make it even more enjoyable. His charm and his charisma and his vibe of easy-goingness that totally endeared the entire thousand odd audience. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, cos everything that he was doing was so captivating, so… magnetic.

I’m not very good with words so it’s very hard for me to describe the concert. Just that FANTASTIC is a gross understatement.

A video montage of the TSUKABA series:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnx3P2V4pRQ&hl=en&fs=1&]

And I bought this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxBK2EdRvh4]

In pastel blue. Spent S$80 on it.

Horrendously expensive, time is only told in Japanese and almost practically useless as a real watch.. But it’s just damn cool.

BUT. I think the total experience was absolutely worth it. Concert tickets = S$35. Zihotch = S$80. Total = S$115. 1.5 hours of pure entertainment. How can it not be worth my dough?

I’d pay double to watch it again.

Some youtube videos to let you experience!

They did this too at the concert!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q1hMe9hDrI&hl=en&fs=1&]

A music show:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gd4lc045ns&hl=en&fs=1&]